Longhorn

We went out to eat for the first time since I got my band last Friday. We were having brunch at a Mexican restaurant. There were several choices I could have but most came with so much food. So I ordered a migas taco off the sides menu. Since I'm still on pureed foods/full liquids, I didn't eat the tortilla. For those who don't know Mexican food, migas are eggs scrambled with tortilla pieces, so I did eat some bits of soft tortilla. I ate slowly and didn't have any problem during the meal or after and it was great to eat so little, especially seeing all of the other plates piled with food. Frankly, their plates looked obscene! It's ridiculous how much food they serve at restaurants these days but I know people would complain if they didn't.

It's on the board that has the FAQs, two boards above this one on the list.

I had an infection about nine days post-op. It was a Saturday so I called my doctor and he phoned in a prescription to the pharmacy. Due to a mixup at th pharmacy, I didn't get the pills until Monday evening. I took them for a week and the infection went away and the incision healed completely. Yours must have been a fast-growing infection to required emergency care! My doctor told me that if mine didn't respond to the antibiotics, he would lance and drain it but that wasn't necessary. I hope yours clears up and doesn't require removal of the port!

I still haven't been hungry the way I used to be but there are times when my stomach sort of rumbles and growls and I feel a little weak and lightheaded, if I let it go too long. It also happens to me about mid-morning and again in the evening. The good thing is that, so far, whenever I've felt hungry, it really was time to eat again!

One way to set goals is to tie it to a reward rather than a date. That is, as soon as you lose x pounds or exercise x times or whatever it is, then you treat yourself to something (mostly like, non-food!) You can't always control how quickly something happens but you can control what you do about it when you succeed! Good luck!

My turkey and macaroni and cheese were pureed but everything else was mushy. I ate very little but it was plenty for me! Congratulations! There are more Thanksgiving stories here: http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f99/thanksgiving-stories-45703/

My doctor said the same thing but he said that if I must have a snack, it should be a piece of fruit. (This is later, when I'm on solid foods.)

If I'm losing without feeling hungry or deprived, I won't have a fill. I think that's what is great about the band because if that should change, the fill is still an option. Good luck!

My doctor said 70 grams of Protein per day. When I was on Medifast Protein shakes four years ago, the minimum was 55. There is actually a formula based on your size and level of activity that I've been able to find online but the results were roughly in the 55 to 70 gram range for me. I suspect some doctors set the goal higher than others with the idea that if we come up short, we'll still have enough.

Free Diet Plans at SparkPeople Easy to use and lots of other features, if you're interested. And it's free, too.

I was also banded on November 1 and I go in on December 14, six weeks and one day after surgery. Six weeks is normal for my doctor. I may not get a fill, though. That decision is made during the appointment based on my weight loss, my level of hunger, and my diet.

My port incision was sore for about ten days. My incision was infected and once I started on antibiotics, the soreness stopped. I'm 25 days post-op and have no soreness anywhere and I haven't for a couple of weeks. The only symptom I had of the infection was that the edges were red and there was a lighter red band spreading out from the edges. My doctor saw me eight days post-op and said I might have an infection and to look for either the darker red or lighter red spreading further. Sure enough, a couple of days later, I noticed the lighter red had spread so my doctor called in antibiotics for me and that was the end of it. I never had fever or swelling. So watch for infection but otherwise, your should be feeling less pain as each day goes by. If not, I'd call my doctor!

I won't be doing solids for five months after surgery! My schedule is two weeks clear liquids (but Protein drinks made with skim milk were okay,) four weeks full liquids/pureed foods, then soft foods until five months post-op. I'm still in the full liquids/pureed foods stage, which isn't too bad, really, but I haven't had any hunger yet. I have about 2-1/2 weeks left before I can start soft foods. My doctor said most of my weight loss will occur in these first five months. I chose my doctor because I agree with his conservative approach (he's pretty slow about fills, too!) I should have plenty of time to relearn how to eat and minimize my chances of negative side effects. I'm sure his approach isn't for everyone, though. I'm a pretty boring eater and rarely cook so I can stick with the same foods every day. :hungry:

I don't have "issues," either; at least, none that are related to gaining weight. Sure, I could exercise more and so could my skinny husband! Sure, there are times I ate more than I should and so does my skinny husband. But I have a genetic predisposition to gain weight, as does everyone in my family, and he does not, nor do most people in his family. Here's what Khaliah Ali and her bariatric surgeon have to say about it in her book, "Fighting Weight:" So what do thin people have over those who are extremely overweight, if not self-control? Luck. Or, more specifically, genetic luck. The genes that put their ancestors at grave health risk thousands of years ago, by making it difficult to hold on to fat stores in times of food scarcity, are the very genes that are keeping them thin and largely free of health risks today in the face of food overabundance. Thin and even mildly overweight people often scoff at that notion, as I know all too well. They say that while a person's genes could perhaps cause a weight gain of twenty, thirty, or even fifty pounds, there's no way someone's genetics could cause her to gain a hundred or more excess pounds. The fault for such obesity, they say, falls on the eater's lack of resolve, not her own particular metabolic circumstances. Not true, and you need only to look at the growing ranks of the obese over the last seventy years to douse such thinking. As Dr. Fielding likes to tell it, if you had said to your thin, tough grandparents in 1935 that they would be able to sit in their car, make the window go down with a flick of a finger rather than with a hand crank, and have a nice teenager hand all their grandchildren five thousand calories through the window with none of them making a single move, they'd have told you to stop dreaming. That is, seventy years ago, constant availability of very high-calorie food with no need to expend any calories in order to procure that food was inconceivable, and there were extremely few obese people. What has changed in the last several decades is not people's level of willpower but our food supply, which has literally become toxic. It's now nothing, as I know intimately, to buy an 1,100-calorie pecan bun from Cinnabon's, an 850-calorie Taco Bell taco salad, a 600-calorie king-size fries, a 400-calorie slice of pizza topped with pepperoni, or a 1,200-calorie pint of super-rich ice cream. And there are no more scheduled mealtimes around the table to cue you about when eating starts and when it's over. It's all grazing, all the time. Furthermore, it is more common now to overeat for emotional reasons. It's at the intersection of these changes that the genetic differences come in. Some people can eat whatever they want whenever they want with no consequences on the scale, or at least not severe consequences. Their metabolic wiring allows them to burn calories faster. Or they may have hormones that are set in such a way that they simply do not get as hungry as other people or as turned on by the sight of food. Others, like me, are not so fortunate. And the not-so-fortunate number keeps growing, because as the food supply keeps getting more and more abundant and concentrated in calories (not to mention more available at every turn), more and more people's genes and metabolisms are losing the ability to withstand the caloric onslaught. Their internal signals are overridden. In 1980, 15 percent of Americans were obese; now it's more than 30 percent. What has changed is the food, along with the drop in the number of calories people burn in daily activities -- not their characters, genes, willpower, or anything else. I believe that if I had learned to eat better food and exercised more when I first started gaining weight instead of going on a diet, I wouldn't have gained as much as I have. I do not stuff my emotions with food. I don't eat fast food. I don't finish off containers of ice cream. Four years ago, I lost 70 pounds in about nine months on Medifast. I fought regaining that weight with everything I could. I went back on Medifast. I joined Weight Watchers Online. I exercised 90 minutes a day. I tried South Beach. I rode my bike 34 miles round trip to work for months. I tracked every bit of food I put into my mouth and limited my calories to 1600 per day, presumably 600 calories below my resting metabolic rate. Yet I gained back all but about five pounds. I even had some doubts about whether my band would work but I now believe that my metabolism is so messed up that the only way I will lose is with a much lower caloric intake than I thought, a level I don't believe I could maintain on my own without the band. And more importantly, I believe the band will help keep me from regaining what I lose. We've been blamed by everyone else and now we've bought into it and blamed ourselves. Why? Because we know we're not perfect and we could have done things better to avoid this. But that's true for most people, whether they're overweight or not. Yes, some people have issues that led to their obesity and they may not be able to lose weight and keep it off if they don't get help. And some of us are overweight for the same reason that we're bald or nearsighted or have big noses. There's another great book out there: "Rethinking Thin: The New Science of Weight Loss--and the Myths and Realities of Dieting" by New York Times reporter Gina Kolata. There's also a PBS special report: "Fat: What No One is Telling You." Both do a good job of examining the issues of obesity and dispelling some of the myths. The PBS special can be viewed online at: FAT: What No One Is Telling You . PBS You know, when AIDS was first discovered, years of precious research time were lost while people spent more time blaming the victims than finding out the cause. We still have doctors who tell us that weight control is a matter of self-control and all we have to do is "eat less and exercise more" rather than find out what is really causing the obesity epidemic in our country. I think it's time we quit blaming the victims and look at what's really going on! Now ask me what I really think!

Have you tried Propel? It doesn't have artificial sweeteners but only has 20 calories in a 16-oz. bottle. It also has vitamins and some kinds have added calcium. It comes in several flavors, too.

There's a long thread on the food board where people periodically list what they ate that day.

For me, the left side was worse. I found that sleeping with a pillow tucked under my belly really helped. I sleep with a body pillow -- one end is tucked between my knees and the other end under my belly with my arms around it. I've always slept this way but it especially helped in the first few weeks after surgery. The pain shouldn't last much longer. Take care!

I do not have a goal to lose weight during this period of healing and getting adjustments. Like anyone, I will be thrilled if I lose and I believe I have due to how my clothes are fitting (I'm not weighing myself at home.) But my goal during this time is to get used to the eating rules and to begin an exercise program. I'm going to be doing this the rest of my life -- it isn't temporary like most diets -- so there's no reason to be impatient, which leads to frustration. My appetite hasn't returned yet but my doctor told me there was no reason to be hungry and he imposed no limits on the quantity of food -- just when, what, and how.

I'd say we're all having an adventure but yours is certainly more interesting than mine! I'm glad things are working out so well for you. Thanks for the update! It's amazing how much easier it is to break old habits when our bodies are cooperating. It's only when I smell food that I've found myself tempted to eat something but since I'm still not hungry, I can easily resist. If it is time for me to eat, I'm satisfied with my own meal, whatever it is. I eat until it feels like enough and when I'm done, I'm not interested in more. It really feels like magic! I assume I'm going to wake up one of these days and find my hunger has returned but I'm glad to have this time to get a preview of what I hope things will be like in the future.

I like the unjury chicken-flavored and unflavored powders which have 20 grams of Protein per scoop. I also like the Low-Carb SlimFast shakes. They have 20 grams of protein per can. Some protein powders really upset my stomach even though I'm not usually lactose-intolerant. However, neither of the above-mentioned protein sources bother me.

Some doctors require their patients to empty their bowels the day before surgery by drinking one of various preparations. Fortunately, my doctor didn't require it. I had to work until 7 the night before and I sure wouldn't have wanted to start the prep while at work!

I haven't checked but do y'all know about the November 07 Bandsters board further down on the list of boards? You'll find lots of folks who were banded close to the same time you were who are going through the same experiences. Come join us!

Many people on this board have been banded in Mexico. I believe they generally line up local after-care in advance.

Here's the story: El Paso Times - Americans elect to have surgery at Juárez hospital It's not just for bariatric surgery but that will be the biggest kind of surgery they do, according to the article. Medical tourism' thrives <!--title-->Americans elect to have surgery at Juárez hospital <!--subtitle--><!--byline-->By Louie Gilot / El Paso Times <!--date-->Article Launched: 11/23/2007 12:00:00 AM MST <script language="JavaScript"> var requestedWidth = 0; </script> <script language="JavaScript"> if(requestedWidth < 300){ requestedWidth = 300; } </script>Renee Brewster, right, accompanied daughter Sloane Brewster on a walk around the Hospital Angeles in Juárez. They traveled from Alabama so Sloane could have bariatric surgery. The walking is part of the rehabilitation. (Victor Calzada / El Paso Times) <script language="JavaScript"> if(requestedWidth > 0){ document.getElementById('articleViewerGroup').style.width = requestedWidth + "px"; document.getElementById('articleViewerGroup').style.margin = "0px 0px 10px 10px"; } </script> JUAREZ -- As medical costs skyrocket in the United States, one new private hospital in Juárez is stepping in. Hospital Angeles looks more like a luxury hotel than a hospital, with a spacious lobby, marble countertops and custom art on the walls. "That's the concept. It can't look like a hospital. It can't smell like a hospital, so it doesn't turn off people," said Carlos Martinez Loranca, general director. It's also clearly designed to appeal to American patients: Signs are in English and Spanish, employees speak English, and doctors offer services popular in the United States, such as bariatric surgery for obesity. Martinez said half the hospital's patients will be Americans, so-called medical tourists seeking affordable health care. Rosalva Castrol cares for patient Ramon Dominguez, 5, at Hospital Angeles, which opened with little fanfare two weeks ago.

Mine is, too! It's almost like I have two belly buttons!